Benton County planners OK Simmons Foods plant between Decatur, Gentry

SUBMITTED Simmons Prepared Foods unveiled this rendering of its new $300 million poultry processing plant, to be located between Decatur and Gentry, at a Sept. 27 press conference in Simmons Great Hall at John Brown University in Siloam Springs. The plant is expected to be operational sometime in 2019.

Benton County planners on Wednesday approved plans for a Simmons Foods poultry processing plant near Gentry.

Traffic signal

Randy Tolbert, a consultant for Simmons Foods, said the Arkansas Department of Transportation will decide whether a traffic light will be installed at the entrance to the company’s proposed plant on Arkansas 59. Turns lanes will be added as part of the project, he said, but the Department typically waits until there is a traffic count before approving a signal.